The House narrowly rejected a bipartisan Senate aviation safety bill responding to the fatal 2025 crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Tuesday after the Defense Department raised national security concerns the previous day.
The bill, introduced by Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would require all aircraft to be equipped with specific location transmission technology, known as ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) In, and repeal certain military exemptions from the technology requirements. The Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent.
The bill, known as the ROTOR Act, was introduced in response to the January 2025 mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft.
The House’s 264-133 tally fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for passage under suspension of the rules, a procedure usually used for legislation expected to easily pass. The House had put the legislation on the Monday suspension agenda, but deferred roll call votes to Tuesday.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., and House Armed Services Chairman Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., took to the floor Monday to urge opposition. One hundred thirty-two Republicans were in the opposition Tuesday. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher of Texas was the only Democratic opponent of the bill.
Fletcher posted on X before the vote that she’s been opposing bills brought to the floor under suspension. “These kinds of bills suggest that Congress is working & functioning as it should, I am using my no vote to make clear that this Congress is failing to perform its most essential function: preserving and protecting the people of this country and our sacred Constitution.”
Cruz was on the House floor with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ahead of the vote to try to whip members in favor of the bill. He later spoke to families of the crash victims — who supported the legislation — in the halls of Congress after the vote. Some were visibly emotional about the outcome.
Cruz released a statement after the vote noting the strong, if insufficient, House support.
“An overwhelming bipartisan majority of House lawmakers today made it abundantly clear that the ROTOR Act should pass and go to President Trump’s desk,” Cruz said. “Today’s result was just a temporary delay. We will succeed, and ROTOR Act will become the law of the land. The families and the flying public deserve nothing less.”
The DOD released a statement Monday saying the bill would “create significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks affecting national defense activities.”
Graves and Rogers echoed the DOD’s concerns on the floor, lamenting the lack of House committee consideration of the bill. The House panel leaders were part of a bipartisan group that released their own legislation last week. They said their bill was more “comprehensive” and criticized the Senate bill for taking a “premature” and “overly prescriptive” approach.
Graves released a statement Tuesday committing to a markup the House bill, known as the ALERT Act, “as soon as next week.”
“If the ROTOR Act is not approved by the House today, I commit to the supporters of that legislation, to the accident victims’ families, and to the aviation community, that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will mark up the ALERT Act as soon as next week and work with our colleagues in the Senate to get this right,” Graves said. “Safety will always be my number one priority, which is why it is vital that we address the NTSB’s recommendations in a timely manner.”
Despite the objections of the DOD, the Cruz bill had the support of National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy. She said before the vote that the bill could have prevented the crash if it had been law at the time. Homendy was in the House gallery with families of the crash victims Tuesday.
Homendy took to X on Tuesday with a post about the two bills, saying, “As a safety leader, my job is not to ‘play it safe.’ My job is to speak up and speak out when something isn’t right.”
“The ROTOR Act would’ve saved lives; unlike claims that this is ‘emotional legislation,’ the FAA had over two decades to Act and failed to do so. Had they acted, we wouldn’t be here today; families would have their loved ones. How many more people need to die before we Act?” she added.
She criticized the House committee leaders’ bill for not implementing NTSB’s “most CRITICAL safety recommendations.”
David Jordan contributed to this report.
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